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Desktop Environment for a "power user"?

What do you reckon is the best Linux desktop environment for a "power user"?

I tried GNome, but didn't like how it tried to mammy you and control everything. I tried KDE, but I had a hard time finding anything through all the widgets.

Right now I'm using Xfce. It's got convenient tools but it doesn't try to mammy you. I've got two problems I need to sort out with Xfce though:
1) Drag-and-drop results in a copy instead of a move
2) The clipboard gets cleared whenever you exit an application

I'm using Xfce and I've got Compiz and Emerald running on top of it. I've got it cloned to look like Windows Vista at the moment.

By the way, is everyone using Emerald as their Window Decorator?

Ask questions on the open forums, that way everybody benefits from the solution, and everybody can be corrected when they make mistakes. Don't send me private messages asking questions that should be asked on the open forums, I won't respond. I decline all "Friend Requests".

IMO, KDE 4.1 is just starting to become a truly useful and productive desktop environment. A lot of the more "cluttering" type of elements can be removed.

Of course, it's horses for courses as always.
What are you really looking for? Sounds like perhaps you'd prefer a lightweight clutter-free desktop? I tend to find it difficult to find a lightweight one which isn't built at the expense of functionality - ymmv

I started off with plain old Ubuntu, which uses the GNome desktop, but found that it was tailored more towards people who hadn't got a clue about computers. Then I tired Kubuntu, which uses KDE, but found it way too bloated (not only the widgets, but the menus as well). Then I tried Xubuntu, which uses Xfce, and I absolutely loved it. I'm still using Xubuntu right now, but there's a handful of problems I need to sort out before I can go preaching to everyone to use it as their main desktop environment. These problems are:
1) Drag-and-drop results in a copy instead of a move (and I still haven't figured out how to change that)
2) The clipboard isn't working properly, it gets wiped when I exit a program, plus when if I click copy on a file, and then open a new folder.

Other than that though, Xfce is an absolute wonder, I love it. At some stage I might look into editing the Xubuntu disc image so that it has stuff like Emerald installed by default, plus a handful of useful stuff like Open Office, Wireshark, Airodump, all that jazz.

@Reality

When you first install Xfce, it looks exactly like GNome (except there's a much nicer skin by default, and the fonts don't look shit as they do in GNome). The menus are simple and compact, and the "control panel" is absolutely fantastic. Since I installed Xubuntu though, I've been keeping a text file of all the stuff I've changed so that I can replicate it on another person's PC (or even if I wipe my own machine at some stage).

There was only ever one thing about Xfce that made me think it might not have the functionality of GNome, and that was that I couldn't resize windows from the top. However, when I installed Compiz and Emerald, I didn't have that problem anymore. So now that that's gone away, I don't see a single thing that amounts of "lesser functionality because things were kept simple". Xfce is pretty much GNome for the more advanced user. And you really gotta take a look at the "control panel" in Xfce, it's an absolute wonder, so simplistic and so functional.

I'm slowly but surely becoming as comfortable in Xfce as I was in MS Windows XP, and that's no small achievement considering how many years I was using MS Windows.

And to those of you who like how Windows Vista looks, here's how to replicate it on Xfce:

Ask questions on the open forums, that way everybody benefits from the solution, and everybody can be corrected when they make mistakes. Don't send me private messages asking questions that should be asked on the open forums, I won't respond. I decline all "Friend Requests".